Patent GB-717941-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to lamp base feeding mechanism
IPC: H01K3/18
Filed: 1951-12-18
Abstract: 717,941. Endless chain conveyers; shoots. BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON CO., Ltd. Dec. 18, 1951, [Dec. 22, 1950.] No. 29610/51. Class 78 (1). [Also in Group XI] Mechanism for feeding similar articles, such as lamp caps, to holders therefor mounted at intervals on a continuously moving endless chain conveyer, for example to receive a cement paste by the machine described in Specification 717,940, [Group XI], comprises means for feeding the caps at a controlled rate to a distributing cup 52 which rotates with a spider 39 mounted on the hub 41 of a sprocket 11, so that the caps drop through apertures 53 in the cup 52 on to downwardly sloping alignment channels 45 carried by the spider and pass, open end downward, into an escapement or metering device 37 located above a prong 72 pivoted at the end of a radially reciprocable slide, so that when in its inner position the prong can receive a cap from the escapement device and, when moved outwardly with the slide, position the cap within one of the holders 20 on an endless chain 10 passing around the sprocket, as shown on the right-hand side of Fig. 5. The cups are fed into the machine at a chute or hopper 47 connected to a pipe 48 containing an adjustable gate 49 and indiarubber vaned rotor 51 leading to the distributing cup 52, which has twelve conical openings 53 spaced at intervals of 30 degrees above a corresponding number of V-sectioned alignment channels 45. The central portion of the cup 52 is attached by a set-screw 61 to the upper end of the hub of the spider, so that the sprocket 11, spider 39, and cup 52 rotate together on ball bearings 33, 43 respectively on a fixed vertical shaft 34. and stud 44. A sprocket 57 secured at the upper end of a stub shaft carried by the cup 52 is geared to drive the shaft 54 of the rotor 51 at three times the angular velocity of the sprocket i and, by providing four blades on the rotor, twelve caps are swept into the distributing cup 52 for each revolution of the sprocket 11. Twelve escapement or metering units are provided, each comprising a vertical tube 62 on the outer wall of which is pivoted a vertical lever 63 with a spring 65 interposed to hold it normally away from the tube wall so that a spring-loaded plunger 71 extending from the lever 63 into an aperture in the wall does not obstruct the passage of caps through the tube. At the bottom end of lever 63, a transverse arm 66 extending outwardly is provided with an annular portion encircling the tube 62 and carrying a pin 69 which projects inwardly into the tube under the action of spring 65 on the lever 63 and prevents caps i from falling through the tube. When, however, a roller 67 on the transverse arm 66 bears against a cam track 68, Fig. 4, encircling the sprocket 11 from approximately the 300 degrees marking through o degrees to 60 degrees, the lower pin 69 is withdrawn from the tube 63 and the lowest cap is released, while the upper plunger 71 enters the tube and prevents the next base from falling through. The prong 72 on to which the released cap falls is spring-pivoted on a horizontally reciprocable rod 73 forming one of a series of twelve located within the hub of the sprocket 11 and co-operating with a fixed harmonic cam'75, the inner end of each rod having a roller 74 which is held against the cam surface by an endless helically coiled spring 77 tensioned around small pulleys located on the side of the rods 73 remote from the rollers 74. The fixed cam 75 is so profiled that, as the sprocket rotates from the 90 degrees to the 180 degrees position, Fig. 4, the push rods 73 are forced successively outwardly until the finger prong 72 is tripped into a horizontal position by a roller cam 78 mounted on the sprocket 11 beneath it, the cap being forcibly maintained on the prong by a curved blade spring 79 supported by the adjacent metering unit 37. During this operation the pair of jaws of the work-holder 20 adjacent to the cap-inserting device are opened by their operating-arm 24 riding over a cam track 19, so that at the 180 degree position the cap.is finally thrust into the fully open jaws which are then closed by their operating arm running off the cam track.